Poland prepares for raspberry season

Poland’s fresh raspberry business is on an upward curve, appealing to a greater number of producers each year.

With the summer season set to begin, Fruitnet spoke with Dominik Wozniak of Rajpol, who painted a positive picture of the category in Poland.

“In raspberry production we have seen big changes in the last ten years,” he explained.

“A lot of new plantations and growers have entered into the business, and most of them have switched from [processing] industry quality to fresh market quality.”

The season traditionally begins at the beginning of June – although an early start at the end of May is also possible – and runs through until the end of October.

“Of course, we are talking about polytunnel production,” Wozniak confirmed.

Poland has two main raspberry harvesting windows, the first of which lasts from June until July.

“We have nice availability of fruits from floricane-bearing branches in summer,” he said. “Also at that time open field production is available, but this goes mostly to the frozen, pulp or processing industries.”

The second picking period is from mid-August through to late September, when fruit from primocane plants in open fields is also available.

In terms of export markets, Poland has enjoyed success in sending fresh raspberries to Germany and Nordic countries.

”For sure our production quality will get better and better every year,” Wozniak added.